The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that ongoing investigations into the British Army’s Ajax armoured vehicle programme will directly shape decisions in the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan, which has been delayed in recent weeks as ministers await clarity on the troubled programme.

In a written statement to Parliament ahead of the Christmas recess, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said multiple safety investigations into Ajax remain ongoing following reports of noise and vibration injuries among service personnel, and that their findings will now feed directly into investment decisions.

“Findings from the investigations into Ajax will be closely aligned to decisions in the Defence Investment Plan,” Pollard said.

The statement provides the clearest indication yet that uncertainty around Ajax has contributed to the delayed publication of the Defence Investment Plan, as the government weighs future funding and capability choices linked to the Army’s Armoured Cavalry Programme. Pollard confirmed that Ajax use for training and exercising was paused on 26 November after around 30 soldiers reported symptoms during Exercise TITAN STORM. Those personnel had been operating across 23 vehicles, all of which have since undergone a 45-point inspection.

“The safety of our Service Personnel remains a top priority for me and the Ministry of Defence,” he said.

Of the 23 vehicles involved, 13 have undergone additional inspections focused specifically on potential causes of noise and vibration, with the remaining 10 still to be tested. Ministers are expected to receive the results of those inspections in the New Year.

Alongside the Army’s internal investigation, a Defence Accident Investigation Branch inquiry and a separate ministerial review are also underway. Pollard said the ministerial review is expected to report shortly, while work is progressing to establish an independent external expert group to add further scrutiny. Although Ajax training and exercising was halted immediately, Reliability Growth Trials continued at Bovington to gather baseline safety data. However, Pollard revealed that during trials on 12 December another soldier reported vibration symptoms.

“This additional report of an injury is a serious concern to me,” he said.

The soldier did not require hospital treatment and is receiving medical support, but the vehicle involved was immediately withdrawn. Pollard stressed that it was not one of the vehicles used during Exercise TITAN STORM, but part of the trials intended to establish comparative safety data.

In response, Pollard ordered a further escalation.

“Out of an abundance of caution, and to ensure the safety of our personnel, I have directed a pause on all Ajax trials,” he said.

The trials pause will remain in place while the individual’s symptoms are investigated and the vehicle undergoes further inspection. Pollard said he will decide in the New Year whether trials can resume. He acknowledged the wider implications of the programme for Army capability and defence planning, but said investigators must be allowed time to reach firm conclusions.

“The investigation teams are conducting their work thoroughly and at pace and they must be given the time and space required to ensure that all information and evidence is considered,” he said.

Pollard confirmed he met with General Dynamics last week and continues to hold regular discussions with the Chief of the General Staff, Army leadership and officials.

Reiterating the government’s position, he added: “It is unacceptable for the safety of our personnel to be at risk.”

Further updates to Parliament are expected once investigations conclude and decisions on the Defence Investment Plan are finalised.

George Allison
George Allison
George Allison is the founder and editor of the UK Defence Journal. He holds a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and specialises in naval and cyber security topics. George has appeared on national radio and television to provide commentary on defence and security issues. Twitter: @geoallison
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154 COMMENTS

    • ‘ … review is expected to report shortly, while work is progressing to establish an independent external expert group to add further scrutiny. ’Has there not been an independent external expert group already, has one been disbanded or has there never been one, if so considering the problems over many years in this programme has there not been one IF it’s now considered vital now. Yes it all seems like yet more ongoing total incompetence sprinkled with an opportunity to delay any spending further. Absolute, totally unforgivable madness. I mean if you didn’t need an independent assessment of whether the original correctional work was truly solving the problems (after all the stark bullet points certainly left me with doubts at the time) then when when would you need one. Or is all this gumph totally meaningless on any level and it’s just another bunch of headless chickens searching for unachievable solutions and spouting the first thing that comes into their missing heads.

    • Yes it sounds like a very poor excuse. If the govt is really interested in increasing defence by the billions to match the 2.7 to 3 percent targets , then placing a few billion to one side for Ajax every year should make no difference to all the other urgently required defence spending budgets . Though in real terms defence spending this year may have gone down instead of up .

  2. Nothing but a convenient excuse.
    The RN and RAF should not have to suffer due to the inability of ministers and Army officers to select an Armoured Vehicle.
    Having already sabotaged themselves, it’ll be rich if the entire DIP is affected by a single vehicle and Rachel Reeves inability to provide finances.
    I also trust that names will be named who accepted this vehicle from 2010 onwards and be tried accordingly? And who more recently assured Ministers it was safe?
    My prediction….”lessons learned” or cobblers to that effect.
    I do wonder if they will continue with the proportion of vehicles found unaffected?

    • Have they started production at scale yet or were they waiting for further acceptance results from these trials? If they have started scaled production would it be too naive of me to assume these latest concerns have stopped that continuing.

      • I believe hundreds have already been built, and many delivered.
        Hopefully a pause and repair/alteration can take place with the remainder?

        • Haven’t they been doing this for years ? repairing and altering them due to the known and ongoing issues ?

          You really wouldn’t run a Civil business like this.

          • I thought they’d introduced better headphones and cushioning.
            Not a fix, an attempt at mitigation.
            On the noise, what do I know, Armoured vehicles are loud. Our veteran posters here have made that quite clear often enough.

            • Oh, I seem to recall some sort of rectification works a few years back but have no Idea really.

              As for noise, I sort of get that it can cause damage, being a Biker with Louder pipes and having the wind blast at high speeds around ones helmet !
              TVR’s with race pipes are horrendous too. ☺️

            • Armoured Vehicles are but Ajax has been recorded at117 dcb, the acceptable level is supposed to be 87, a car on the motorway would average around 50 dcb and a high speed train at around 80 dcb just to put the level of noise into perspective, obviously major vibration isn’t factored into this to complement the high levels of noise.

              • ATJ, Hearing damage can occur with repeated or long exposure to sounds at 85 decibels (dB) or above. Sounds at or below 70 dB are generally considered safe for hearing health. Source – National Institues of Health,.

                • Thanks for the additional context Graham, it just shows more so how bad the noise levels are, especially if they expect people operate them on sustained operations.

                  I was hoping the figures would put it into perspective for people, as in a few places I’ve seen the noise levels played down like they’re normal and “not that bad”, soldiers should “just get on with it” attitude.

        • What I don’t get is how they have not already found the problem /solution. This has been a publically known issues for years, and i suspect the mod knew about it well before that. If it is not fixable by now, surely it never will be or has everyone been talking about the issue without actually working on it all this time, which I admit is a possibility.

        • Danielle, AI meta searched multiple sources: 589 ordered of which 322 built of which 170 delivered to MoD of which 91 have been accepted and fielded to units. FOC was expected to between October 2028 and September 2029. Don’t know the mix by numbers of variants.

          • Grahame
            Is it possible that part of the problem is harmonics? ie in the right conditions, vibrations at exactly the right frequency can multiply on top of each other. There was that famous example in the USA where a bridge over a canyon shook itself to pieces when a wind in the right direction & speed caused harmonic oscillations (Tacoma bridge around 1940). It was caught on film.

            • Dj, that may be the case. Every structure has a resonant frequency, including that bridge at the Tacoma Narrows. By sheer bad luck, a particular wind event (or several) excited the bridge at exactly its resonant frequency, and the bridge dramatically broke up. Its why classically soldiers should break step when marching across a weak foot bridge in case their synchronised marching impulse hits the bridge’s resonant frequency.
              In the case of Ajax, there are a number of possibilities which may cause vibration, including rotating items running out of true (unbalanced), various effects arising from dissymetry about the longitudinal centre line caused by poorly manufactured hull, poor alignment of meshing or mating parts, such as sprocket teeth, road wheels and any return rollers (if fitted) not perfectly engaging with the moving track. Vibration causes damage to the human body, and creates noise. Noise is also created in Ajax by a poorly performing Active Noise Reduction headset, which apparently may have been magnifying noise rather than cancelling it.
              I think that the causes of hull (and turret?)vibration, vibration-induced noise and audio equipment-induced noise, must be well established. I am sure that the 8Ds approach originally pioneered by Ford would have been used at some point. A full Colonel who spoke in November (MoD Project Manager?) claimed that many agencies including dstl had looked into the NVH issues.
              By far the best way of dealing with issues is to determine the root cause(s) and eliminate it/them ie at source. If the hull has been poorly fabricated and machined at GD Spain it should be remanufactured to proper spec or scrapped and replaced. Big bucks required. Mitigations are cheaper. Clearly mitigations have been applied in the case of Ajax ie improving seats and headsets and getting occupants to wear double hearing protection. Not ever a complete cure…and in this case not even an acceptable cure.

    • As I have said so often this is the best any individual vehicle will ever be, as it ages as anyone with half a brain knows such problems will only deteriorate, which is why the original list of remedial actions never looked truly sufficient to me. I remember thinking ‘is that it’? Sticking plaster on a bullet wound to my eyes.

          • A number of other 40t+ armoured vehicles have shifted to rubber tracks some time ago. Has this actually been trialed on Ajax? I have seen comments to the fact that you need more than an Ajax crew to change a rubber track. If you loose a track post Ukraine, are you already dead in the water (so to speak)?

    • Ajax cost £6 billion, if it has to be scrapped and replaced which sounds likely then an extra £6-£10 billion will have to be found in the ten year equipment plan which will have a massive knock on effect. This would be equivalent to the RN suddenly finding out both its carriers didn’t work and had to be replaced.

      It’s impossible to publish the DIP with that level of uncertainty.

    • Another Parliamentary statement this week said that there are four separate ongoing investigations into Ajax. So Feb/March is optimistic methinks. Unless someone is willing to agree the RAF and RN funding and tell the army to whistle.

    • March sounds ambitious, I respect the government’s desire to have a fully funded plan but the reality of defence procurement, especially in times of conflict won’t always meat the reality.

      No idea what you would do with this though as the cost of Ajax replacement is so big it will eat up any contingency.

  4. Here we go, kick the can down the road for a few months, whilst we scramble to cobble together something/nothing. Can’t upset our welfare spending plans can we?

    • It’s beyond delusional, things as equally or even more vital are being delayed for this, in what way is that a viable solution whatever the answer to this platform, indeed I don’t think there will ever be an answer to it, it’s purely how bad the cost of non answers is going to be over time, which is pretty much asking how long is a piece of string in reality and asking if it gets longer or shorter if we leave it a few months.

    • So, let me get this straight.

      The DIP is being delayed due to these 23 Vehicles ?

      And there was me trhinking we were finalising a massive shopping list of essential war fighting equipment for the long warned of war in Europe.

        • Yup, as always I was being Sacastic ish !!!

          Not a snowballs chance In hell we will be getting all the stuff outlined and agreed with in the list of reccomendations.

      • I smell rats. Political rats. Along with wanting to cancel local elections until 2027 now? It is an administration that is dead in the water. The pro war yap is all distraction. You cannot trust any politician to be honest, or put this countries interests first. I was asked the other week would I defend this country again if needed. My response was the two most descriptive Anglo Saxon words in my vocabulary.

      • No, it’s not twenty three but 300+, the contract has already been paid for and GD some how is not in breach.

        If they have to scrap Ajax then they need to find billions of pounds in the DIP to replace it, there will be no refund from GD on the £6billion paid.

      • It’s not welfare spending rising all that much it’s the NHS and debt interest causing the issues.

        Combined welfare spending is less than debt interest and three times less than the NHS.

        I’m all for welfare reform and cutting waste but your dreaming if you think that 6% of the governments budget can have such a big impact no matter how much you cut it.

        Even with people taking the piss of which there are many the majority of disability payments are going to the disabled.

        • Good post Jim. There is a tendency on here for people to, rather Ignorantly, label Disabled people as benefit scroungers. These comments are normally made without knowing what It can be like to be disabeled, unable to work and in a whole world of shit because of it. The really Ignorant will have pictures of lavish lifestyles and brand new luxury cars in there pea sized brains which Is most definately not the case at all. Some here even believe that PIP payments are easily claimed. They are not, there are many stages and qualifying criteria that have to be gone through with only the most severe cases recieving the top rates (which will barely provide a living income) Such Ignorant people use thise assumptions to their advantage despite the hurt It may cause to those less fortunate.

          • “disabled, unable to work and in a whole world of shit because of it.” That describes my 50-year old daughter to a T. She has ME – chronic pain and tiredness, womens’ problems are amplified, Been unabled to work for 16 years, now. Lives on her own and even though she can’t manage more than 20 minutes housework at one go, she’s been denied PIP several times. As for income, it’s down to bank of Mum & Dad to help with her living expenses. So yeah, Halfwit – you’re right on the nose.

            • So sorry to hear this mate, It’s a horrible situation to be in from every angle and some on here need to wind it in a bit.

  5. They should just fence off from the MOD CAPEX budget the amount currently allocated for Ajax prior to the latest issues, and press ahead with publishing and purchasing for the other services. Whatever the eventual Ajax solution is will have to come out of that amount and whatever savings the Army can find elsewhere.

    • Yes, seems logical and sensible, if we are to believe HMGs words on spending increases, war footings, society coming together, and all the rest.
      I don’t.

    • Sounds logical, and as much as I am a proponent of scrapping Ajax, whatever comes in it’s place is going to cost a lot of money. I don’t think you can simply fence it off.

    • 100% correct

      The Government are just kicking the ball down the street We have no money the treasury say as Labour keep spending large on their priorities and pet projects

      The Army / MOD have made a mess of AJAX and our priority should be Navy Air and UK aerial defence
      Are we going to fight a land battle in Europe within 5 years
      The Polish have reall stepped up and the Nordic nations
      Germany at long last have seen the light …. I think
      ThE EU and especially the French are freezing us out of joint defence spending fund so let them do it on the ground

    • Ajax is the excuse for not publishing DIP on time. They weren’t coming in on time anyway. They’ve been given no extra money this year; indeed they’ve been told to cut some spending. It’s probably causing an epic internal bunfight when the SDR says do all this and the Treasury adds but with no extra money.

      • Jon, Defence got £5bn extra anounced in June this year
        Spending Timeline
        2025: £1.98 billion
        2026: £2.97 billion

        Rationale:
        Support for the AUKUS defence pact £3 billion
        Replacement of weapons sent to Ukraine £1.9 billion
        Improvement of munitions infrastructure Included in above

    • They can’t because if they have to find an extra £6 billion then they can only do it by salami slicing across other projects. It’s such a massive amount of money it will affect everything.

      • They can because
        (a) if GD has failed to produce a safe vehicle for troops then it’s in breech of contract. If GD argue, then ban them from all future defence projects.
        (b) They don’t need to find an extra £6 billion even if GD don’t refund the money. The army simply has to do without a replacement at least for the time being.

        • Unfortunately as the government has already said GD are not in breach of the contract. The problems with Ajax only seem to affect a small percentage of people and such an unusual outcome won’t be covered by any contract.

          It appears to be a certain frequency of vibration affecting only some people which is why it’s so hard to isolate and it’s also why they thought they have solved the problem and it turned out they hadn’t.

          If Ajax is scrapped GD won’t be on the hook for much if anything and it will take a decade or more to recover anything.

          GD are already hiding behind maintenance and misuse of the vehicles by commanders as the cause. Try and prove any of this in court will be nearly impossible, they can’t even be certain the hearing loss was caused by an issue as most people suffer hearing loss as they age and all armoured vehicles are incredibly loud.

          You need a pretty big sample size to prove a statistical anomaly that could be used to ascertain fault and even then GD can just point to maintenance as the cause.

          • From the evidence that’s trickled out lately, there are far more issues than vibration and noise to the Ajax program. Build quality is at neanderthal levels and reliability is poor. GD should never touch a UK project again. I would hazard a guess that rectifying the issues at this point is cost unknown and there are no guarantees that GD wouldn’t just do the same again.

          • No what the government has said is that GD are not currently in breech of the contractor, as of the 4 investigations beginning into the issues encountered. One or more of those investigations may decide otherwise.

            If the fault is due to vibration, GD dynamics should be using humans as guinea pigs to determine where the vibration has been eliminated or not. They should be recording all vibration in the electronically using sensors and using those results to determine whether the vibration still exists or not.

            Even IF the courts rule in favour of GD, it doesn’t mean HMG has to ever buy a single item from them ever again.

        • Spock, The new National Armaments Director, Rupert Pearce, has rushed in to say that GDUK is not in breach of contact. Odd him sayng that before the four different enquires have reported! He may not still be the NAD this time next month for saying that so precipitiously.

          • What part of “not currently in breach” isn’t clear to you?
            After these four investigations it may be found that GD “is now currently in breach”.

        • Spock, the army needs an armoured recce vehicle or 3 Div can’t do anything. Scimitars are all gone. I guess they would carry on with the interim arrangement – a number of Warriors re-roled to recce.

      • I don’t see why wider Defence has to suffer for the incompetence of whoever got this vehicle chosen, then supported it all through it’s development.
        Recc is done by Jackal and Drones, Armoured Cavalry gapped.

        • I agree but it seems to me unlikely that the Treasury is willing or even able to just chuck an extra £6 – £10 billion at the MoD for a replacement program. That kind of money would require tax rises and look at what happened before the last budget at the hint of tax rises.

          There are also big questions being asked if armoured recce is even the way forward anymore especially given the vast cost of a program like Ajax. If anything is open to being replaced by unmanned systems it’s probably recce.

          • Indeed there’s a good argument that drones have rendered the need for specialist armoured recce vehicles redundant.
            Instead, “Send in the drones!”

            • Others have shifted to wheeled at the heavy end. Wheeled in general, are much faster (& hence harder to hit). If conditions are such that wheeled cannot do the job, are we at the point that it’s a waste of time? Yes, tracked may still be able to move, but is tracked reece by a 40t vehicle at that point of any use? Post Ukraine (whenever that is), I don’t think so.

              • Certainly the world has moved on since the hugely successful CRVs and the need for a replacement of some kind was identified. Which is why we don’t necessarily need to immediately purchase something similar (eg CV90) if Ajax is cancelled for breech of contract…

                Which means they should go ahead with publishing the DIP now.

  6. wow just look at what the other eu countries have or are buying, and what have we ordered a big fat zero.well done starmer , the sooner you and your pathetic govt are gone the better.

  7. Understandable as we may have buy some thing else to replace it. Does not excuse buying nothing since last year and just talking crap with wind bag statements. Germany and Poland have ordered kit and got some delivered while we had some meetings, excuse after excuse total lack of reality.
    Europe must look at us and think who are theese clowns thier Army is a joke, yet they do nothing.

      • I blame Watergate. The political instability in 1972 caused the start of a stock price crash. Without America in control, the Arabs invaded Israel triggering the 1973 oil price hike, which exacerbated the stock market crash turning it in the worst since the Great Depression. Rich people were significantly inconvenienced and put pressure on major economies to switch to monetarism, which caused the devastation of manfacturing industries and restraints creating smaller government. That morphed into neoliberalism, which insists that austerity is the only option for government and has led to the further hollowing out of the armed forces since 2010.

        So obviously it’s all Nixon’s fault.

      • I’m just surprised nobody in the comments section has tried blaming Trump yet! Still time though, the ‘night shift/drinkers’ will be online soon… 🤫

  8. It’s amazing how the Ajax debacle is being used as a convenient excuse to delay DIP. Starmer has ripped up DIP revision ?????
    because of cost, some defence projects are for the chop.
    The Prime Minister is in danger of falling foul of the Europeans and it is difficult to see how the GDP targets for defence will be achieved.

    • They were always UTTER PIE IN THE SKY.
      I’m constantly amazed so many here still believe the crap this government comes out with.
      On DIP delays “Due to Ajax” the NAD just days ago claimed it was a matter of days away.
      So….who is telling lies?
      On Ajax, how can one delay due to a vehicle which if not resolved might spend years in legal disputes.
      Trump, who was credited to get NATO to raise spending, I wonder if he’s seeing what HMG are doing? I’d love it if he publicly calls them out on it.

      • The FT website is now carrying the “pause” initiated by Pollard, apparently he was on his hind legs in the Commons today, usual guff about “ abundance of caution” etc. I get the impression that the Government are warming the bell towards announcing a cancellation, although why this should lead to a delay in the DIP for just one programme, as many other posters have already said here, rather escapes me. And I suspect the GD’s lawyers are rubbing their hands and sharpening their pencils for a lucrative new year.

      • It’s nice to see someone on here who can see through the bull. John Healey is becoming more and more deluded every time I hear him speak. The Prime Minister I’m sure believes what comes out of his mouth.

        • I was sceptical when they came in, to be fair. I had a lot of debates/rows here at how awful the Tories are and how wonderful Labour would be by comparison.
          I look forward to being proved wrong?

      • In fairness Daniele to those responsible to the DIP, it likely would have barely been affordable even with a bunch of missing capabilities and likely scraping by with bare minimums for anything ordered, like an IFV was already a pipe dream, even Boxer Batch 2 hasn’t been safe even though its funds were supposed to have already been protected from previous budgets, now having to find £6bn plus from an already desperate budget is a big ask with the treasury running things and not funding defence properly, the DIP would be useless once they cancelled 6bn in projects they have in the current DIP.

        • Morning John.
          So gap it, don’t find the money yet.
          Hey! Andover quite happily try to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes with Brigades that have no CSS, an Armoured Corps with no in FOC CVRT replacement since it went, a RA with only 14 SO Guns, what’s another between friends and Russia.
          The RAF, RN, and wider Defence must not be reduced again due to the incompetence of army staff and ministers.

          • I agree with you, it’s not like the Government will have an issue gapping the capability anyway, it hasn’t stopped them so far as you well know. It has however provided the ideal excuse to delay spending funds on defence, can’t miss an opportunity to delay when it comes to defence !

            They need an equivalent of special measures for procurement for the Army, have a someone from an allied country that can successfully deliver in defence procurement oversee and train those doing it for the army here.

            • ATJ, can armoured recce in 3 Div be gapped and that division then actually do anything? Find-Strike is the new army doctrine, [they seem to have dropped the Fix component, strangely]. If you can’t Find, you can’t Strike, so lets just write 3 Div off, shall we? SACEUR will not be pleased at the hobbling of one of his two reserve corps and he will tell Trump!

              You put the blame for the dismal Ajax programme entirely on the army’s ability to conduct procurement effectively and efficiently. There are more ‘players’ to blame – ie. Industry, Politicians.

        • Good point. The army requirement was originally for the AI to have upgraded Warrior and the Mech Inf to have about 1200 Boxers. Warrior upgrade cancelled and no replacement IFV instead. Only half the required number of Boxers for the Mech Inf ordered. What is gong on?

  10. What is the point of an SDR back in January if the funding that goes with it isn’t confirmed?
    It’s just words, and not worth the paper it’s written on.
    All it’s findings were accepted by HMG.
    So….why the battles now, the funding should have been in place in the summer.
    According to reports the RN, CSOC, DNE, have have all been settled, but not the Army or the RAF.
    That means HMT had never guaranteed funding so the whole document, and this government, are utterly pointless.

    • On a more “Chill” note DM, I passed through your Devon places a couple of days ago, had a great trip around the whole area, managed to sleep rough up on Exmoor and the bus behave Impeccably up Countisbury and down Porlock hills. Currently heading back home Via the Cotswolds with a nice little stop near “Much Bonking in the woods” 6 wheeled life is so much fun.

    • The other SDSR’s 10, 15 and 20 were all conducted in house, they were in reality cutting exercises dressed as reviews. SDR 25 differed because it was done by an independent outside panel. It was not there to set a budget or choose any tanks. It was a strategic review to tell the military what it had to do. The MoD could then take that review, design an equipment plan and force structure around it and then get agreed long term funding from the treasury to execute that plan (DIP)

      That’s all very inconvenient for internet commentators like us looking for instant decisions and equipment program announcements like Bojo did but it’s the right way to do it.

      However having the biggest equipment program the army ever embarked on potentially be declared unsafe for use on the eve of announcing that plan was always going to throw a spanner in the works.

      This is nearly equivalent to the Royal Navy saying PWR 2 is unsafe for use and all submarines carrying it need to be scrapped and replaced. immediately.

  11. It’s a shame former defence Secretary Ben Wallace made the wrong decision to carry on with Ajax when he was reviewing the project . BAE CV90 is the one to have but to late now 😟

    • To be far on Ben walis until the supplier catastrophically fails, you cannot take them for breach of contract.. and if he has ended the contract GD land systems would have taken HMG apart for breach of contract.. by waiting and give GD a chance to fail to rectify breach of contract on the side of GD becomes open and shut… essentially probably the only chance HMG had of getting anything back was to wait for this to happen.. when I oversaw healthcare provider contracts.. I sadly always had to wait until they had obviously failed ( harmed patients with failings and had been given chances to comply with the contract…otherwise I would have had to keep them or pay them to sod off and I would have no money for a new service…..

      • It is looking like he allowed mitigation that did not work instead of genuine fixes. The poor build quality also doesn’t seem to be a new thing, hard to believe they would be building to a lower quality now than they were back then.

  12. Yet another excuse to not spend / invest in defence.

    Cancel Ajax, get damages from the production company, use this to buy an excellent off-the-shelf capability.

    Hardly a complex decision…..

    • If only it was that easy,what is your preference?please bare in mind that anything any good has a very long queue for delivery😉

    • Bill, it is unlikely that GD will have to pay back much, if anything. MoD signed off every milestone triggering a stage payment, then declared IOC, then the NAD said GDUK was not in breach of contract.

  13. No reason it couldn’t have been released for the Navy and Air Force.
    In January it will be we plan to release before October. Just as well there isnt a war in Europe.

  14. Well it looks like HMG is seriously thinking about canning the whole programme and taking GD land to the cleaners for contract breach..

    The thing is I don’t see why the DIP needs to be delayed.. after all what has ajex got to do with most programs.. waiting for everything to be perfect is the enemy of actually doing anything…

      • Essentially this is the flip side of the coin.. do you get more from keeping the contract open or going nuclear knowing you will kill the company.. and the problem is GD UK provides a lot of different defence elements via a lot of different contracts so you don’t want it going bust.. per say.

    • Jonathan,

      ‘Well it looks like HMG is seriously thinking about canning the whole programme and taking GD land to the cleaners for contract breach’,

      NAD, Rupert Pearce, has just said that GDUK is not in contract breach.

      • Hi Graham

        The language used was ( to a person who was brought in when my organisation was about to go nuclear on a contract) more threatening than anything else.. “not yet in contract breach” “The investigation will give us further facts and details, which may give us rights under the contract.”… that is none binding language for we are coming for you.

  16. How can this vehicle affect decision making in the entire DIP?

    It has to be said that one possible interpretation here is that an additional significant purchase is being seriously considered (i.e. the much speculated Ajax IFV to replace Warrior) but this obviously won’t happen until the vibration issues are properly fixed.

    Pressure is thus being put back on GD to deliver on resolving the latent issues. The key factor will be in whether the issues are due to difficult to resolve defects (e.g. wonky hulls, which ultimately will be GDs problem) or a more serious fundamental design issue (which would be a minefield in liability terms)

    • I’ve got a good idea, let’s re-inforce failure with an additional contract; the last thing GDUK need is more work from the UK – perhaps we could tack onto the American production programme – the one that has learnt from all the mistakes from our programme… or just get CV90 and give the US nothing.

  17. Haven’t been able to read everyone’s posts but csn someone confirm that the overweight and noise issues are just with the Ajax and not the other variants? If this is the case can’t they just do a re-engineering of the affected vehicles and make sure all subsequent vehicles are up to scratch? Need to sort out who pays.

  18. How dose the song go, “take the money and run” We had well over 2 years of investigations and tests to clear Ajax for delivery so that AD would get paid. now they have been paid we find the same faults resurfacing, but with no accountability the people who signed this off get away scott free (again).
    I just wonder how much money the people on the original inquiry got to say that the Ajax is OK to use.
    With Zero accountability in this country the people behind all this must have a rye smile on their face every time they get a bank statement.

      • I don’t mean to set your blood pressure going first thing, but put this into Google:
        “Ajax wins Global Project Controls Award.”

        Click on the des.mod.uk link
        ‘Megaproject of the Year’.

        Couldn’t make this stuff up!

        • Hi Greg.
          I follow “Decider” magazine, the internal DE&S journal, I think I saw the photos in there.
          All glitzy and congratulating themselves. I don’t lay blame on the IPT to be fair, but the alleged SRO, when they were chosen, ministers and brass who chose the vehicle without first ensuring that it works safely.
          The gun, ISTAR kit, all works fine AFAIK.

          • Hi Daniele, I was looking for something else on the website and came across this. I had never heard of these awards but made me laugh with MIC voting Ajax ‘mega project’ of the year. 💸💸

      • We could all take it with a pinch of Salt if this was a one off but it is not, it is across the board with procurement being particularly inapt when it comes to project management, but it is my belief that there is something more sinister going on behind the scenes. That is a UC = Utterly Corrupt government and civil service. Corrupt in ever sense of the word physically, morally, spiritually. The people behind these projects have zero accountability so are able to get away with destroying the armed forces and the defence of the UK just to further their own gain. A few years ago they would have been hanged for treason, now we give them a Knight hood.

  19. ‘Ongoing investigations’ are no doubt simply a device to permit thinking time as to what further actions are politically and contractually expedient.

    There is a wealth of information available regarding the problems with the vehicle and the chronology of actions taken.

    ‘Although ATDU crews had reported concerns about vibration while carrying out rehearsals for these trials in December 2019, the Commanding Officer ATDU
    accepted the advice of the Senior Safety Responsible that the vehicles could be operated safely using a combination of procedural controls and a noise and vibration calculator.

    On 13 May 2020, the Capability Safety team sent an updated version of their September 2019 safety brief to the Land Equipment Safety Officer; this time noise and vibration were among the safety concerns identified.

    In April 2021 the Commanding Officer ATDU became increasingly concerned about the safety of his crews following further reports of injuries. In June 2021 he sent DCap a draft brief stating that he was no longer content to hold the risk for the safety of trials involving extended periods of driving; this was the first time that the risk was formally elevated through the Duty Holding chain.

    2.2.6.10. On 25 June 2021, in response to a report by Millbrook Proving Ground Ltd on their further vibration testing, the SRO again halted trials.’

    And so on and so forth…. Sheldon Report 19 May 2023

    The internal lessons are clear: ‘too many cooks….’

    The performance of General Dynamics was beyond the scope of the Sheldon report. It was, however, not beyond the scope of the FYB report.

    ‘…the vehicles’ batteries cannot sustain normal operating conditions, and the auxiliary power unit is so unreliable that units have effectively prohibited its use due to frequent breakdowns.’

    ‘Reports of failures in the fuel tanks are also being received. Due to these malfunctions, crews have to manually transfer fuel between vehicles using a separate fuel pump’

    ‘The technical manual for the AJAX exceeds 20,000 pages, and fully mastering it essentially requires a dedicated training course. The situation is made worse by the quality of the instructions used during training. According to the soldiers, it is a chaotic collection of fragments taken from the documentation for other vehicles’

    ‘Particularly worrying are the delays in the 40 mm cannon’s operation. In the event of a malfunction, the system forces the crew to wait 30 minutes, effectively paralysing the entire vehicle. This also disables the coaxial machine gun, as it lacks a mechanical firing mode.’

    ‘Crews also emphasize the vehicle’s excessive fuel consumption: roughly 16 liters per hour. With a 795-liter fuel tank, the vehicle can operate for only about 50 hours, which is considered insufficient for equipment designed for deep reconnaissance.’

    The Armoured Trials and Development Unit was recently tasked with demonstrating that an AJAX could drive from the factory to the training range and open fire. Problems emerged already during preparation: the standard track-lubrication gun did not work, so crews had to use equipment from the Warrior IFV.

    During the communications check, crews discovered incorrect internal wiring and that some equipment was missing or damaged. It had to be taken from other vehicles. A General Dynamics specialist was brought in to align the cannon, but only one of the four vehicles fired 10 rounds.

    Additional issues include excessive vibration when driving off-road. Soldiers report that cables twist themselves loose, and the solution proposed by General Dynamics and the Ministry of Defence was to use rubber tracks. At the same time, the three-person crew is expected to replace a rubber track on its own, without outside assistance, to avoid revealing its position.’

    And the vibration effect on crews mentioned in the Sheldon report clearly continues.

    That does not sound like a product that is fit for purpose, certainly to me.

    Sunk costs. Cancel. Withholding Warrior from Ukraine indicates that not a few must have seen this moment coming……

  20. Is Ajax out of date already?. It was thought up 15/20 years ago. The battlefied has moved on since then a big 40 ton vehicle is hardly the best thing to keep hidden. CVRT was small, fast quite not sure all that applies to Ajax. It has no active protection or drone defence either.
    Strange how not one person has ever been held to account over this mess, Army officers signed it off said it was deployable, GD said it was fixed, The trials team signed it off but not one person has ever been disciplined.
    As for this DIP its clear its about money and the lack of it, as the defence budget grow strange more and more is plied on it that never used be covered by defence. Yes the defence budget is going up but what it has to pay for is as well its a con trick. The DIP will be a shoddy affair weak on numbers, with excuse after excuse why, delay after delay. Any one who thinks it will be the big buy in is in for a shock.

    • I am certainly out of date but a bigger vehicle presumably has advantages for the ‘remoted’ recce now envisaged:

      ‘According to information published on July 18, 2025, by the X account of the British Army Royal Armoured Corps, armored mechanized units of the British Army are undergoing a tactical evolution by integrating Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) into reconnaissance operations….these drones serve as force extenders, enabling crews to conduct close and deep reconnaissance without breaking concealment or exposing vehicles to enemy fire……

      The Royal Armoured Corps’ increasing reliance on drone integration reflects a fundamental change in doctrine.

      Where once reconnaissance was limited to line-of-sight or vehicle-mounted optics, the new paradigm emphasizes distributed sensing, stealth, and rapid information flow. With continued investment under the Army’s Land Industrial Strategy and Future Soldier program, the RAC is expected to further expand drone capabilities, including potential use of loitering munitions and AI-supported target recognition systems.’

      • Whats your view then rather than Army double speak. Its for a past battle field, its now over 10 years late still not working only thing saving it is we gave way all our other recce vehicles and its a fix price contrat. Be better of turning it in to an IFV and giving the whole fleet to the infantry and buying smaller recce vehicles.
        Using warrior for recce ok, fine it has no up to date remote senser any thing, even in the OPV variant so no flying UCAS from it etc. We got ride of kit before its replacement worked and it was done to save money but will likely end up costing more.

        • Cancel it. Too small for an IFV. Best bet probably to send the vehicles to Ukraine.

          Warrior works for recce, can use SUAS etc. C2 can be handheld ruggedised IT hardware.

          Given the current attitude at the highest level in government, I very much doubt the British Army will get anything else. The warriors must be on their last legs by now but that never stopped us before!

          • There is an new untested IFV varaint but that will just rattle and fall apart, the Ajax could be used as CP/DFDC/OPV would have made sense to just have Ajax/Boxer C3 as the main types but just not sure if Ajax will even be kept on. The Warriors that are doing recce where did they come from? ie which units gave them up to replace CVRTs?
            DIP will be a joke, a money saving insult.

            • It’s bonkers!how can GD try to market an IFV IF it’s using the same parts as Ajax,although this does come with rubber tracks! So they have either upgraded the IFV somehow and if that’s the case why aren’t they doing Ajax?

          • Reece variants of Boxer exist & are in service elsewhere. Yes they are 30mm but have airburst & inbuilt ATGM launchers. Even active protection options are available. Realistically, what more do you want in a Reece vehicle?

  21. So NMH is delayed until DIP and now DIP is delayed until Ajax investigations conclude. Wonder if this happens in China….

  22. Just delete specifics to Ajax… Then publish.

    Of course this’ll mean that the investment they want to spend on it will somehow get rediverted to Benefit scroungers.

  23. Bring back Warrior! Give a basic mech refurb, throw on a bit of upgraded kit and we’d have a recce vehicle. Not world class blah blah but affordable, reliable and doesn’t try to kill its own crew! Rest could be done by cheap drones etc ( maybe).

  25. Sweden are looking to buy 4 frigates, am sure we can do an offset deal for some CV90s, we build frigates they build our new IFV. Win/Win

    We fix the Ajax and sell them to Ukraine at cost (via a Loan).

    I would go full medium and get some cv120s, all should have APS

    This should be part of us getting closer to our Scandinavian partners, we should also be asking how they can have a vibrant military manufacturing capabilities when the UK spends more than all of them combined. Lots to benefit from such a deal imo

    • I am not sure Ukraine is quite that stupid. They will take anything for free, but they are rather selective when they are paying.

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